City of Thieves: A Novel by David Benioff
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Book Reviews of City of Thieves: A Novel
Book Review: A novel that I could not put down until I finished it...a terrific read!
Summary: 5 Stars
Two Russians find themselves in dire straits. One is accused of desertion. The other is accused of being a thief (robbing a dead German who parachuted into the city of Leningrad). Their only way of not ending up in a Gulag or a bullet in their heads? Find a dozen eggs for an NKVD officer whose daughter is getting married. The eggs are needed for the cake.
Yes, it sounds and reads as if this plot goes nowhere, but I could not put this book down. The tension as the two (Kolya and Lev) have to get along, get through enemy lines and somehow find a dozen eggs in the dead of winter when everyone is starving to death and living on sawdust, bookcovers and....well, you have to read what else people were living on while the Nazis put a seige on Leningrad.
The book never stops. It is funny at times. Scary at others. Thought provoking at other times and the conversations, the characters, the setting and the whole book never fail. Every page has great dialogue, great comments, laugh out loud funny moments and moments where the tensions are too high to describe.
I can't write enough about this great work. Read it and I promise you will be glad you did. It's not an easy read. The language, the situations and the issues in the book are tough at times, but Benioff (the author) does a tremendous job of letting us feel and hear the desperation of these two young men during the seige of Leningrad in WWII.
Book Review: Heartbreaking and heart-warming
Summary: 5 Stars
Early in 1942, during the siege of Leningrad two young men are arrested, the penalty for their crimes summary death. But for some reason they are singled out and given a chance, find a dozen eggs within the week and they will earn their lives and freedom. The two men, one really no more than a boy are twenty year old Kolya, and seventeen year old Lev.
Kolya is a fine young man, big, blonde, confident, with the ability to charm himself out of the most impossible situations. Lev is small and thin, half Jewish, shy and self concious. They meet for the first time in prison following their arrest, and now find themselves thrown together on this unlikely and seemingly impossible mission. Lev initially resents Kolya, his natural ease with people, his optimistic disposition, his command of any situation, but over the few days they have together that gradually changes, as does Lev as he finds within himself strengths he never new he had.
Narrated by Lev, City of Thieves is a beautiful story; the unlikely friendship between the young men very touching. Their search for the eggs takes them into an number of dangerous and diverse situations, situations that enable them to prove both their courage and their care for each other. A most pleasurable and rewarding read that one does not want to hurry even when at its most dramatic; the conclusion is simultaneously both heartbreaking and heart-warming.
Book Review: Coming of Age
Summary: 5 Stars
Lev Beniov is a 17 year old Russian boy stuggling to survive in Leningrad during the German invasion of World War 2. His home is the Kirov, a broken down apartment complex within the city. Many of the inhabitants of this city have fled leaving behind those willing to defend it, thieves and looters, and those unfortunate many who continue to wonder the streets in search of what life may still be remaining. Food is limited to rations so small a child would not be satisfied. Probably the worst thing possible, Lev and the few friends he squanders a living with, are fighting two enemies, the Germans and the Russian military. It is the latter, who arrest Lev for rummaging through the remains of a dead German paratrooper.
During is short stint in prison, Lev meets Kolya, a military deserter, whose love of life appears to not be surpassed. Their acquaintance appears short lived as their execution is imminent. However, a powerful colonel proposes an interesting alternative; obtain a dozen hard to find eggs for his daughter's wedding cake within one week and be set free or suffer the consequences.
So begins an excruciating yet beautiful story about the journey of these two young men and their quest for a new chance at life. This is my first David Benioff novel and certainly will not be my last.
5 stars
Book Review: A Gripping Tale Of A Buoyant Friendship
Summary: 5 Stars
Even if you don't care about the Nazis' brutal siege of Leningrad...even if an adventure tale doesn't appeal in the least...you will still love this highly original coming-of-age book.
By the end of it, you will meet a bored colonel's daughter skating on the Neva as her countrymen starve...a giant cannibal and his perverted wife whose grisly wares hang from ceiling chains...a scrawny rooster named Darling... an antitank dog bleeding in the snow...and above all else, two of the most likable protagonists I've met in years.
Lev is a 15-year-old gawky Jewish teenager who, by a twist of fate, ends up in a cell with Kolya, a handsome and flamboyant blond Cossack who is capable of charming the pants off just about anyone, including this reader. Together, they set out on the most unlikely quest: to secure a dozen eggs for the Russian colonel's daughter's wedding. At times humorous, at times poignant, and at all times gripping, this touching buddy narrative has a lot to say about how friendship and humanity thrive even in the worst of times.
Once you begin this riveting book, it's almost impossible to put down. You want to cheer for both these young men...and to celebrate their friendship. Easily five stars.
Book Review: Armchair Travel: City of Thieves
Summary: 5 Stars
David Benioff's novel City of Thieves has it all: The frozen winter landscape of Russia, death, betrayal, friendship, thievery, destruction, evil, and lust. Lust for women, lust for men, lust for survival, and lust for food.
Set during the siege of Leningrad in World Word II, it is the story of two incongruous companions, young Russians thrown together by the sheer chance after each finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. They are given a seemingly impossible assignment that will take them on a journey out of Leningrad and toward danger.
Because Benioff kept Harrison Salisbury's The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad by his side as he wrote City of Thieves, the scenes he created are factually believable even though one of the first characters you meet, "David" (perhaps meant to be Benioff himself in a literary, cameo role) is told: "You're a writer. Make it up."
You'll be on the edge of your seat until you reach the climax of this clever historical page-turner. Carry it with you if your travels take you to St. Petersburg, the once and present name for the city that Hitler's invading German army failed to take.